Lake DeCade is an annual speckled-trout hotspot out of the Dularge area, but it definitely had an off year, according to long-time area guide Capt. Bill Lake.

"It had a spurt of good fishing that lasted about two weeks, but that was about it," he said.

Lake theorizes that a coastal-restoration project may have been responsible for the slow action. "I think that Lake Mechant Land Bridge project they did is keeping DeCade a lot fresher," he said.

That's certainly a possibility. According to a March 2010 news release from the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration task force, the project was designed to do just that.

View full sizeThe project was designed to stabilize the eroding marsh between Lakes Mechant and DeCade.

"The project would protect and restore a critical landbridge barrier between the easily erodible fresh marshes north of Bayou De Cade and the higher saline environment of Lake Mechant," the release stated. "At the present shoreline erosion rate, the north Lake Mechant shore will soon fail to act as a barrier, allowing the hydrologic connection between Lake Mechant and the fresher marshes to the north."

The lake has historically gotten productive beginning with the first cool fronts in October, and the action has often stretched well into winter. Only time will tell if this year's slow bite was an anomaly or the beginning of a trend.